Double-sized Wednesday Weekly Roundup

Last week's Listia n' webtraffic roundup was bumped by special seasonal coverage, so this week is a double dose.

Here are a couple non-certified autos, Grampa Hough and Elaine Benes' brother. These were from a "5 random autos" auction, but the other 3 are set aside for trader buddies. Same seller I got the 91 Score Ken Caminiti auto from, seen last Listia roundup. Seem authentic to me, but who knows? This lot was actually won before the Caminiti, but the seller mistakenly forgot to send it out till I bugged him about it. I had hoped he'd throw in a couple bonus cards to make up for the delay, but no dice. Lost yourself a customer, buddy! (Well, not really, but I'm less likely to bid on his auctions now.)

Here's a trio of Bad Ass Mamma-Jammas.

I already had this Dick Allen.. hell, I think I already had a dupe of it.. but for 99 credits (~a dime) I'll pick up another one. Maybe I'll alter this one up into a glowing card or something fun like that.

Gavin Escobar on-card auto relic. It was easily the most expensive card featured in this post, but decent Get It Now so I jumped on it. I've got a pretty respectable Gavin E. collection now. This is at least my third or fourth auto of his. Now that my Chargers are sadly done for the year, part of me hopes the Cowboys win the Super Bowl and Gavin wins Super Bowl MVP and his card values skyrocket, turning my PC into a goldmine. Not that I would sell them. --well, just my (many) dupes and maybe the stickergraphs. (Speaking of the Super Bowl, excuse me while I slip in a quick pimp for Collector's Crack's 5th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web.)

Man, I love picking up new Goldschmidts. And I seem to be the only one on Listia who feels that way, because I've been winning a few auctions for his cards lately for the 499 starting bid, or close to it. Actually, this one was only 425. Papa likely.

Last Listia roundup, I showed off the '77 Fidrych rookie I got. From the same seller, here are his subsequent cards, '78 and '79. The awesomeness of his cards took a correlative nosedive along with his career, as past bloggers have pointed out. I'll try to finish out his Topps run, all the way to his miserable sunset card.

A signed index card of Stan Bahnsen won for 692 credits, which I intend to turn into a glow-in-the-dark auto sketch card one of these days. Any Bahnsen collectors out there want to call dibs on the finished product? I don't know much about him, but he won the 1968 AL ROY while with the Yankees, and was a 20-game winner for the White Sox in '72.

Finally, here's another recent Tony Perez addition. I already had this card in my 73 setbuild, but a dupe for the PC is nice. This might be an upgrade, so now I have to ask myself which is the priority: Does the better-condition card go to the set or the player collection? I'd probably lean toward set. Howbout you guys?

Ok, now onto the webtraffic roundup!

Listia winnings and webtraffic roundup (12/17) - 80 views. Not bad.

Vintagey card show haul (12/18) - 70 views. Not bad.

Gift box from Johnny (12/19) - 50 views. It was a Christmas Miracle for me that this one hit my 50-views goal. Trade posts don't get a lot of traffic, especially when the featured cards are mostly from the junk wax era. But we did it! 50 views! Hurray!

2015 Archives anticipation (12/20) - 93 views. Nice showing!

Trading with 2x3 really takes me back (to my old house) (12/21) - 72 views. Pretty good for a trade post. Here's a Smiths song I didn't get around to including in the post:

Update Signature Edition to my glowing sketch cards (12/22) - 187 views! Really warms my heart that this modest little art project of mine has had a nice reception. It's my most popular post since the Wampa post (which is currently up to 499 views).

2014 Prizm Draft Picks (trade bait) (12/23) - 66 views. For a trade bait post, this number of views is somewhat low. I guess a product that's mostly no-name kids with freshly-signed pro contracts is hard for most people to get excited about.

A Ginter Xfractor for Xmas! (12/24) - 70 views. My big birthday post. For being on a holiday, it did quite well. Here's a bonus anecdote for you: A few weeks ago I forgot how old I was. I'm not joking. I tried doing the math in my head but it was inconclusive. To find out how old I was, I had to go to Matt Ginter's b-r page. Question answered.

12 Cards of Christmas (12/25) - 64 views. Again, nice showing for a day when most people don't have much time to spend reading baseball card blogs. Big thanks to you readers out there who make time for my ramblings and pictures of baseball cards.

The Festival of Lightsabers begins today! (12/26) - 35 views. Here's where my streak of unusually strong holiday traffic hits a snag. And only one comment?! Where are all the Star Wars fans when you need them? Haha, nah, actually I didn't have high hopes for this post. It was pretty much an afterthought. Between dealing with a cold, spending an extra day at the in-laws' place, and dragging myself into work, spitting out a post that day barely came together. Mostly a copy-&-paste from the prior year's 12/26 post, it's just me trying to spread the tradition of watching the Star Wars saga between Christmas and New Years. This will catch on someday. I might not be alive to see the day, but it will catch on, damn it! Down with May the 4th! Up with the Festival of Lightsabers! One day just isn't enough. Anyways, this year we've been watching the George Lucas approved version of the saga: Episode I thru VI, including "special editions" of the older films. This is a "last hurrah" since this was the order I watched during The First Festival, so I'm paying tribute to Baby Jesus Jar-Jar. But I assure you many years will pass till I again watch Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones straight (eg, not fan edits or without Rifftrax commentary). I really hope the Disney Star Wars movies are good. But yeah, I'm excited to close out The Festival tonight. Call me an antisocial loser, but I'd much rather spend New Years Eve at home watching Jedi than at some noisy party, worrying about driving home with all the drunks on the road.

post-Christmas cards (12/27) - 99 views. Wow, for a trade post, a couple days after Christmas, this was a very popular post! It started off slow, but finished strong.

The dawning of the Gavin LaValley era! (12/28) - 58 views. Not bad. I realize Gavin posts aren't exactly must-read's for most people, but I'm excited about the rainbow I'm working on. And I'm happy to report that I easily won the 3 auctions I had my eye on over the weekend. So expect an update post regarding the rainbow in the coming weeks.

Card show haul, in action (12/29) - 44 views. Not bad, but seemed to stall early. Should eventually crawl past the 50-view goal in a week or two.

Last of the card show pickups for 2014 (w/tradebait) (12/30) - 70 views. Yesterday's post did very well. And nearly all the tradebait has been spoken for, which is nice to see. Looking forward to kicking off 2015 with a few trades. Don't forget to email me with your addresses, guys I haven't traded with before.

So there you go. Twas a very respectable holiday season on the blog to close out 2014. This time last year, I'd be happy to crack 20 views on any given post, so for me to be complaining about "only" 35 views on one is saying something. Not that I'm completely hung up on hits, and sorry again to anyone out there who is bothered by me dissecting my webtraffic like this. I wouldn't blame you. I just think behind-the-scenes stuff like this is kinda interesting.

And onto the graphs:

Hmm, does Just Commons ship in top loaders? I can't really recall. I know not every card does, but perhaps a top loader on each side of the stack. Or maybe I'm thinking of COMC.

Thanks again to you reading out there. Have a Safe & Happy New Year!

Last of the card show pickups for 2014 (w/tradebait)

Closing out my pickups from the December card show...

A couple sweet 50-cent autos. Brooks Kieschnick first got on my radar when I found out he inexplicably had the lone glowing card in '94 Classic Best. I learned that he was a legit position player and pitcher in the bigs several years back, and that badass fact lead me to consider his cards keepers when I came across them. So picking up an auto is a nice addition to that tiny PC.

And as for Kevin Kouzmanoff, as Marcus will tell you, he's a fan favorite to many Friar faithful. This might be the one card I was most excited to pull from the bins at the show. Anytime another patron came near me to check out the bins, I would hunch over my stack and pull the cards close to me as if to say, "Do not dare think about snagging this Kevin Kouzmanoff autographed card because it is mine."
That said, his signature is a joke.

A couple early McCutchen cards. Always love picking up a decent Cutch here and there.

A couple Oscar Taveras cards. RIP. Turns out I already had the "1st Bowman Card" so it's available if anyone wants to trade for it.

A trio of nice rookies. Brett Lawrie's name was fresh on my mind, as he had recently been traded and getting a lot of press.

I love adding cards to my fledgeling Paul Goldschmidt PC, and this "1st Bowman Card" is a great addition.

As for the McGriff one true rookie, I already had a slabbed copy, but figured I'd pick up a "raw" one too. (I actually had one many moons ago, but traded it to Marcus back in the first blog-trade I ever made.)

Now let's finish with some tradebait:

Autos of Chase Davidson (Astros), Scott Aldred (Tigers/Twins [haha, "Claimed On Waivers" is probably not something you want to see on the certified auto you pull]), Travis Blackley (Astros). A Tanaka RC. And a #/250 Rafael Montero (Mets). Anybody want any of these 5 cards above? I'm DTF: down to flip.

Thanks for reading. See you next time.

Card show haul, in action

Let's continue showing off some more pickups from the card show a couple weeks ago.

Something you don't see everyday.. kicking off with some Dodgers love on a Padres-centric blog. But shiny Kershaws, a top prospect, an imminent HOFer, a Kemp RC, and a Russell Martin relic.. all nice cards for 50 cents each. Now that Kemp is a Padre, I have to start corralling my Kemps into a PC instead of throwing them in the tradables box. And the Martin was pretty much picked up for trade bait, but I wouldn't mind hanging onto it if nobody hops on it.

Chavez Ravening gave me the McGwire of those holographic cards recently, and I liked it so much, I had to add this Junior to my stack when I came across it. I think that is my 3rd of those Fleer Ultra diecut "CD" inserts (also have the Gwynn and Ripken).. love em. It's incredible seeing a Simon & Garfunkel reference on a baseball card.

Finally, here's exciting Rangers prospect Joey Gallo. He's a big swinger who's crushed 104 minor league home runs and just turned 21 last month. Hopefully he gets his strikeouts under control and doesn't fall into being a Rob Deer type of batter.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. I've got one more post's worth of pickups from the December card show-- including some tradebait-- which I'll show off soon.

The dawning of the Gavin LaValley era!

Gavin LaValley baseball cards are here! It was just a while back I noticed he had made his professional debut, and I conjectured he'd have some baseball cards on the market before long. That day has arrived, my friends!

I'm super excited about Gavin LaValley. You probably know I collect guys named Gavin. And LaValley has rocketed to the top of my interest list. Gavin Floyd is alright, but is now in the twilight of his career. Gavin Cecchini is cool, too.. but as a recent #1 draft pick of a big-market team (Mets), his card prices seem a bit too inflated for me to chase in earnest.

Gavin LaValley, a 4th round pick by the Reds, is in the "Goldilocks zone" where he has a promising future, yet he's under-the-radar enough that his cards are affordable. I've been wanting to find a card or two that I was excited about enough to dive in and "rainbow" hard (something I haven't really done before, save for maybe that Bip auto from 2014 Archives), and I think I found them.

LaValley has been included in the checklist for two recently-released products: 2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks and 2014 Bowman Draft. He's got auto inserts in the former. (Thanks to Doug at Sportscards from the Dollar Store for giving me a heads-up, btw.)

I've spent the past few weeks hunting down all the versions of his cards that I could find (and purchase for a reasonable price). Let's check out what I've acquired so far.

Here are the checklists (thanks to Cardboard Connection)

Gavin LaValley 2014 Bowman Draft Baseball Checklist
x Base paper
x Base paper NNOF error
o Base paper Topps Vault First Edition blank back 1/1
x Blue paper #/399
x Green paper #/75
o Orange paper 1/1
o Red paper #/5
o Black paper 1/1
o Asia-Exclusive Black
o Black Printing Plate 1/1
o Cyan Printing Plate 1/1
o Magenta Printing Plate 1/1
o Yellow Printing Plate 1/1
x Silver Ice
x Red Ice #/150 -  snipe scheduled
x Purple Ice #/99
o White Ice 1/1
o Orange Ice #/25
x Chrome base
x Chrome Refractor
x Chrome Blue Refractor #/399
x Chrome Green Refractor #/150
x Chrome Black Refractor #/75
x Chrome Gold Refractor #/50 - snipe scheduled
o Chrome Orange Refractor #/25
o Chrome Red Refractor #/5
o Chrome SuperFractor 1/1
o Chrome Black Printing Plate 1/1
o Chrome Cyan Printing Plate 1/1
o Chrome Magenta Printing Plate 1/1
o Chrome Yellow Printing Plate 1/1
x Chrome Black Wave - snipe scheduled
x Chrome Blue Wave - on the way
x Chrome Silver Wave #/25
o Chrome Red Wave #/25
o Chrome Shimmer #/15


Gavin LaValley 2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks Baseball Checklist
o Base
o Prizm (a.k.a. Refractor)
x RWB Puslar Prizm
x Powder Blue Prizm #/199
o Purple Prizm #/149
o Red Prizm #/100
o Blue Mojo Prizm #/75
x Orange Prizm #/60
o Green Prizm #/35
o Gold Prizm #/10
o Black Finite Prizm 1/1
x Prospect Signatures Autograph base Prizm
o Prospect Signatures Autograph Press Proof Prizm #/199
x Prospect Signatures Autograph Purple Prizm #/149
x Prospect Signatures Autograph Red Prizm #/100
o Prospect Signatures Autograph Blue Mojo Prizm #/75
o Prospect Signatures Autograph Orange Prizm #/60
o Prospect Signatures Autograph Green Prizm #/35
o Prospect Signatures Autograph Gold Prizm #/10
o Prospect Signatures Autograph Black Finite Prizm 1/1

[Update: cards that I've obtained since this was originally posted are marked in red.]

I bought in with a couple different 10 case Bowman Draft player breaks. Unfortunately, those 20 cases didn't yield anything too exciting. One had a blue refractor, the other had a blue wave (not pictured, as it's still on the way), but no low numbered cards. I was sure I'd get at least one of the 8 printing plates-- 20 freakin' cases! I had never signed up for a player break like that before and I guess I was a little naive. It was cool tuning in and watching some of the live stream of the breaks. But sucks I didn't come away with more good parallels.

(Any interested Reds fans, I've got a ton of dupes available to trade, including dozens of base paper and base Chrome, plus a few base refractors and an extra Silver Ice.)

As far as other disappointments, I got outsniped on the Bowman Draft blank back 1/1. (I can't bring myself to pay more than $20 for these gimmicky 1-of-1s.) But it was probably a blessing in disguise because otherwise I may have foolishly gone down that rabbithole of legitimately attempting to do a "100% rainbow." And that's impossible with the crazy number of 1/1s in this product. I'm saved from that fate by whatever jackass put up a few more cents than me for that online-exclusive 1/1 blank back.

But still, I should celebrate what I do have and not mope about what I missed out on.

I'll keep an eye out for reasonably-priced cards out there as I continue building a nice Gavin LaValley rainbow or two, even if I'm not as gung ho about it as I was out of the gate.

By the way, today is his 20th birthday. Happy Birthday, Gavin!

post-Christmas cards

It's nice to receive a trade package in the mail on 12/26 to help ease the comedown from the gift-opening high of Christmas. I got such a package full of great cards from Spiegel83 at Nomo's Sushi Platter.

Here are the hits, highlighted by a sweet Trevor swatch. [HT] I licked it to verify, and I can confirm that it is indeed sweet! j/k (No, but seriously, flavored relics. That should be a thing. Strawberry parallels and whatnot. Why hasn't a card company hired me yet?! I'm full of great ideas!)

Being a Dodgers collector, Spiegel had some spare Garvey, Piazza, and A-gon cards to send my way.

Some greats.

Always love adding Frank Thomas cards to the PC.

More cool cards of guys I collect. Funny thing about the gold Pujols is it's numbered 0262/2014.. That's the same exact number as the similar Jedd Gyorko I showed the other day, which I only remember because of the "eBay 1/1" connection to Jedd's 2012 AA batting average.

Some Padres and some shiny college guys.

More shiny cards.

Vintage!

And even some football guys I collect for good measure. These three cards are all serial numbered on the back for extra coolness.

Big thanks for the excellent cards, Spiegel83! I dropped your return package in the mail this morning.

The Festival of Lightsabers begins today!

I hope everybody had a funderful Christmas. Mine was great, though not without its minor obstacles to overcome (I came down with a cold.. my wife forgot some stuff). We decided to stay an extra night at the in-laws, so we got home this morning just with enough time for me to pack up my stuff for the day and head out to work (bummer working the day after Christmas, especially when it's a Friday, and especially when you're sick). I didn't have time to really prepare a new post for today, but I'll post essentially a repeat of last year. I always look forward to 12/26 because that means...

The Festival of Lightsabers begins today!

Just a quick break from baseball cards to share word of this joyous event I've celebrated the final week of December every year since 2007. 

The Festival of Lightsabers is the tradition of watching a Star Wars film each day between December 26 and 31. It's a terrific way to beat the post-Christmas blues and kick up the holiday season during that lull between Christmas and New Years. Hey, great excuse to experience the Star Wars saga in a special way!

The traditional schedule is as follows:

Dec 26: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Dec 27: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Dec 28: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Dec 29: Episode IV: A New Hope
Dec 30: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Dec 31: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Modifications are allowed however. For instance, one year you can watch the original theatrical versions of the trilogy, and the next year you can mix it up with the "special edition" newer versions. Also, it is permitted to swap the prequels with other Star Wars related entertainment (because really, suffering through The Phantom Menace every frickin' year is simply asking too much!) For instance, in place of a prequel you could watch the animated Clone Wars series, the Star Wars Holiday Special, or even something like the Family Guy or Robot Chicken Star Wars specials if you like. The prequels can also be made more tolerable by playing them along with Rifftrax commentary or watching fan edit versions. If you get busy and have to skip a day, it is permitted, though not encouraged, to "double up" with 2 films in a day, or even bump the festival a day, thereby concluding on January 1st.

So those are the basics. I encourage everyone to take part this year and hopefully make it an annual tradition of your own!

Last year we watched it in the "machete order" for the first time.. that was cool. Thanks to Bo in the comments last year for the suggestion. I'm still undecided on the films/order this year, though I think we'll start off tonight with some animated Clone Wars, or maybe even watch Fanboys.

I'm excited for the new Star Wars films coming out from Disney starting next year, though I'll be a little sad that the traditional Festival of Lightsabers schedule will no longer fit perfectly between Christmas and New Years. Maybe we'll go ahead and watch in the traditional 6-film order this year for one last time. Lord knows I may never be bothered to watch Phantom Menace again otherwise.

12 Cards of Christmas

Here we go. 12 Christmas Cards.

1st Day - Ken Griffey, Jr

2nd Day - Holly Jolly Jenkins

3rd Day - Lee Smith

4th Day - Oscar Gamble

5th Day - Jim Palmer

6th Day - a double dose of Celtics: Robert Parish and Bill Walton

7th Day - a double dose of sexiness

8th Day - Catfish

9th Day - Padres

10th Day - Chargers

11th Day - Greg Maddux

12th Day - Fred McGriff

I was lazy with it this year, but for more Christmas cardboard cheer, check out last year's countdown. Some of my best photoshop work ever there, if I say so myself!
Two thousand thirteen Topps Five Star Rickey Henderson and two thousand four Topps Retired Ralph Kiner
Two thousand nine Upper Deck Alex Karras
Two thousand four Donruss Vida Blue
Two thousand thirteen Panini Playbook Art Monk
Two thousand thirteen Spencer Scott Benchwarmer
Two thousand four Topps Retired Orlando Cepeda
Two thousand twelve thirteen Upper Deck Dominique Wilkins
Two thousand eight Topps Hanley Ramirez
Two thousand one Donruss Xavier Nady
Two thousand four Topps Retired Jim Piersall
Two thousand eleven Santonio Holmes Prime Signatures
And a Jody Gerut two thousand four Leaf

Here were this year's 12 Days of Beermas beers, thanks to my lovely wife:

And here's my dog Annie showing off her holiday spirit..

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas, you all.

A Ginter Xfractor for Xmas!

Ha, sorry for the deceptive title; this post has nothing to do with A&G or Christmas. But here's a new player collection I've been working on...

Matt Ginter! (And can I say that I really love this style of Xfractor.. It's cooler than that boxy-vortex version Topps has been beating into the ground the past few years.)

Yes, Matt Ginter! On his career, he posted a 5-7 record with a 5.43 ERA over 96 MLB games back in the 00s.

He never really did anything all that notable on the field, and he's not from my hometown and never played for the Padres or anything.. so why single him out to collect?

Well, he's the only guy to play in the majors who was born on the same exact day as me. 

We're 37 today.

Call it narcissistic or some Freudian unfulfilled desire to be a baseball player myself, but I like collecting players with whom I have some sort of loose personal connection. Guys with the same first name as me. Guys who went to my high school. And now this guy who shares my birthday. I don't think I'm gonna go nuts with a huge birthday maxicollection like Sportscards From The Dollar Store's 2/14 binder. I'll stick to exact-match Matt Ginter for now. Anybody got some Matt Ginter cards to get rid of that aren't pictured above? Let me know about a trade! Most of his cards are from his time on the White Sox, plus a couple cards with Cleveland and Detroit.

In fact, screw it, here's a somewhat-complete checklist of his available cards:

o 2000 Birmingham Barons Grandstand #10 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Birmingham Barons Grandstand #31 Buehrle/Crede/Ginter/Rowand
o 2000 Black Diamond Rookie Edition #134 Matt Ginter JSY RC
o 2000 Black Diamond Rookie Edition Gold #134 Matt Ginter JSY (/100)
x 2000 Bowman #153 Matt Ginter RC
x 2000 Bowman Chrome #153 Matt Ginter RC
o 2000 Bowman Chrome Refractors #153 Matt Ginter
x 2000 Bowman Chrome Retro/Future #153 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Bowman Chrome Retro/Future Refractors #153 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Bowman Gold #153 Matt Ginter (/99)
x 2000 Bowman Retro/Future #153 Matt Ginter
x 2000 Bowman's Best #176 Matt Ginter RC (/2999)
o 2000 Just #235 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Just Black #235 Matt Ginter (/50)
o 2000 Just Gold #235 Matt Ginter (/5000)
o 2000 Pacific Omega #221 M.Ginter RC/B.Penny (/999)
o 2000 SP Authentic #161 Matt Ginter FW RC (/1700)
o 2000 SPx #196 Matt Ginter RC (/1600)
o 2000 Southern League Top Prospects Grandstand #10 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Team Best Rookies #234 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Team Best Rookies Bronze #234 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Team Best Rookies Gold #234 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Team Best Rookies Silver #234 Matt Ginter
o 2000 Ultimate Victory #96 Matt Ginter RC (/3500)
o 2000 Ultimate Victory Parallel 100 #96 Matt Ginter (/100)
o 2000 Ultimate Victory Parallel 25 #96 Matt Ginter (/25)
o 2000 Ultimate Victory Parallel 250 #96 Matt Ginter (/250)
x 2001 Bowman #413 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Bowman Chrome #303 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractors #303 Matt Ginter (/99)
x 2001 Bowman Chrome X-Fractors #303 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Bowman Gold #413 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Charlotte Knights Choice #11 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Donruss 2000 Retro #100 Matt Ginter SP (/2000)
o 2001 Donruss 2000 Retro Stat Line Career #100 Matt Ginter (/300)
o 2001 Donruss 2000 Retro Stat Line Season #100 Matt Ginter (/66)
o 2001 Donruss Class of 2001 #138 Matt Ginter (/1625)
o 2001 Donruss Class of 2001 First Class #138 Matt Ginter (/50)
o 2001 Donruss Class of 2001 Rookie Autographs #138 Matt Ginter (/250)
o 2001 Donruss Signature #243 Matt Ginter (/800)
o 2001 Donruss Signature Proofs #243 Matt Ginter (/25)
o 2001 Just Stuff Autographs #BA16 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Just Stuff Autographs Black #BAB16 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Just Stuff Autographs Gold #BAG16 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Pacific #464 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Pacific Extreme LTD #464 Matt Ginter (/45)
o 2001 Pacific Hobby LTD #464 Matt Ginter (/70)
o 2001 Pacific Premiere Date #464 Matt Ginter (/36)
o 2001 Private Stock #133 Matt Ginter SP
o 2001 Private Stock Gold Portraits #133 Matt Ginter (/75)
o 2001 Private Stock PS-206 Rookies #6 Matt Ginter (/125)
o 2001 Private Stock Premiere Date #133 Matt Ginter (/90)
x 2001 Private Stock Silver #133 Matt Ginter
o 2001 Private Stock Silver Portraits #133 Matt Ginter (/290)
o 2001 Pacific Retail LTD #464 Matt Ginter (/85)
o 2001 Sweet Spot #66 Matt Ginter SB (/1000)
o 2001 Upper Deck Victory #566 Matt Ginter
x 2002 Absolute Memorabilia Absolutely Ink #39 Matt Ginter
o 2002 Fleer #126 Matt Ginter
o 2002 Fleer Gold Backs #126 Matt Ginter
o 2002 Fleer Mini #126 Matt Ginter (/50)
o 2002 Fleer Tiffany #126 Matt Ginter (/200)
x 2002 Topps Total #471 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Charlotte Knights Choice #8 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes #131 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Atlantic City National #131 Matt Ginter (/5)
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Autographs #131 Matt Ginter (/250)
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Chicago Collection #131 Matt Ginter (/5)
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Glossy #131 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Glossy Hawaii #131 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Hawaii #131 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Master #131 Matt Ginter (/20)
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Samples #131 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Samples Gold #131 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Donruss Team Heroes Stat Line #131 Matt Ginter (/37)
o 2003 Fleer Tradition #156 Matt Ginter
x 2003 Fleer Tradition Glossy #156 Matt Ginter (/100)
x 2003 Topps Total #311 Matt Ginter
o 2003 Topps Total Silver #311 Matt Ginter
o 2004 Norfolk Tides Choice #12 Matt Ginter
o 2004 Topps Total #434 Matt Ginter
o 2004 Topps Total Press Plates Black #434 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2004 Topps Total Press Plates Cyan #434 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2004 Topps Total Press Plates Magenta #434 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2004 Topps Total Press Plates Yellow #434 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2004 Topps Total Silver #434 Matt Ginter
o 2004 USA Baseball 25th Anniversary #68 Matt Ginter
o 2004 USA Baseball 25th Anniversary Signatures Black Ink #GIN Matt Ginter (/179)
o 2004 USA Baseball 25th Anniversary Signatures Blue Ink #GIN Matt Ginter (/42)
o 2004 USA Baseball 25th Anniversary Signatures Green Ink #GIN Matt Ginter (/2)
o 2004 USA Baseball 25th Anniversary Signatures Red Ink #GIN Matt Ginter (/22)
x 2005 Topps Chrome Update #18 Matt Ginter
x 2005 Topps Chrome Update Black Refractors #18 Matt Ginter (/250)
o 2005 Topps Chrome Update Gold Super-Fractors #18 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Chrome Update Printing Plates Black #18 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Chrome Update Printing Plates Cyan #18 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Chrome Update Printing Plates Magenta #18 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Chrome Update Printing Plates Yellow #18 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Chrome Update Red X-Fractors #18 Matt Ginter (/65)
x 2005 Topps Chrome Update Refractors #18 Matt Ginter
o 2005 Topps Total #669 M.Ginter/F.German
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Black Back #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Black Front #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Cyan Back #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Cyan Front #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Magenta Back #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Magenta Front #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Yellow Back #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Press Plates Yellow Front #669 M.Ginter/F.German (/1)
o 2005 Topps Total Silver #669 M.Ginter/F.German
x 2005 Topps Update #19 Matt Ginter
o 2005 Topps Update Blue #19 Matt Ginter (/1)
x 2005 Topps Update Gold #19 Matt Ginter (/2005)
o 2005 Topps Update Printing Plate Black #19 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Update Printing Plate Cyan #19 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Update Printing Plate Magenta #19 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2005 Topps Update Printing Plate Yellow #19 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2006 Pawtucket Red Sox Choice #14 Matt Ginter
x 2008 Topps Update #UH54 Matt Ginter
o 2008 Topps Update Black #UH54 Matt Ginter (/57)
x 2008 Topps Update Gold Border #UH54 Matt Ginter (/2008)
o 2008 Topps Update Gold Foil #UH54 Matt Ginter
o 2008 Topps Update Platinum #UH54 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2008 Topps Update Printing Plates Black #UH54 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2008 Topps Update Printing Plates Cyan #UH54 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2008 Topps Update Printing Plates Magenta #UH54 Matt Ginter (/1)
o 2008 Topps Update Printing Plates Yellow #UH54 Matt Ginter (/1)

(UPDATE: a red x indicates I've gotten the card since originally publishing this post.)

What's funny is that when I found the cheapest available Matt Ginter certified auto on eBay (above) and checked out the seller's other auctions to maybe combine shipping, I found a nice lot of twelve '73 Kellogg's cards for a decent price. I decided to throw it in my cart too, with the main pull being a Dick Allen card I needed.

I didn't even realize it at the time, but yes, it was a true Allen & Ginter purchase!

So once again, Allen & Ginter has made it tricky to search for a guy I collect. Try searching for "Matt Ginter" and you'll find a ton of A&G cards of Matt Kemp and Matt Cain. Gotta remember to add "-Allen", just like when I'm searching for Dick Allen, I gotta remember "-Ginter" or I'll be flooded with cards from the A&G insert set "World's Biggest Dicks". Nah, that was a joke.

Anyways, do you share a birthday will a pro baseball player? (You can check by poking around here at Baseball-Reference.)

And by the way, the most annoying thing about having your birthday on Christmas Eve is people always asking you if it's annoying to have your birthday on Christmas Eve. Otherwise, it's pretty awesome.

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas.